Football Commentator

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Milan: fashion center and now a haven for washed up strikers

Andriy Shevchenko has announced to Chelsea management that he wants to return to Italy at the end of the season. Italian press claims that he met with Chelsea owner RomanAbramovich and that little resistance was offered to the suggestion.

Former Real Madrid striker Ronaldo was the last wash-up to land on the shores of Italy, after a lackluster spell, it appears his career may be over due to injury. For Shevchenko the loss of Ronaldo leaves an opening for a cut rate return to his former club.

He should have better luck there with Alberto Gilardino a world class flop and only Pato to compete with for a place.

The Shevchenko's have apparently already been house hunting in their old stomping grounds.

Alonso should be respected

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is dead wrong. Xabi Alonso made a decision not to travel with the Liverpool team yesterday for their tussle with Inter Milan as his girlfriend was on the verge of giving birth.

This is a mistake. Events like these don’t happen every day. A man deserves this moment regardless of what is at stake, and in this case of bunch of boys punting a ball around. A little perspective on what is meaningful in life would be useful. Also a bit of respect for what is meaningful for the individual.

Alonso has been on the back foot at Anfield ever since the arrival of Javier Macherano and the recent emergence of Lucas.

Apparently Alonso was prepared to join up with the team after the birth but Benitez then announced that hewas not going to be travelling and had to make due with what he had.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Ultimatum at Liverpool: you have 1 day

Liverpool owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have denied, denied, denied that they have discussed a sale of the club to the Dubai based investment fund DIC, but the most open secret since Elton John and Freddy Mercury is now coming to a head.

Gillett and Hicks have 1 day to take it or leave the offer from the government run fund. The offer on the table is 400m pounds.

Tired of the runaround, well it’s not the first time: DIC has played this ‘last chance’ card before and are much more eager to buy than the owners to sell even though their tenure at Liverpool so far has been nothing short of an embarrassment. So typical with a desperate buyer, Gillett and Hicks are trying to gouge out a huge sale price.

Tom Hicks has especially been adamant that there is no negotiation taking place. Pffff, raspberries everywhere.

The current Liverpool owners are becoming very, very unpopular among fans for a variety of high profile blunders. Recently one of the owners sons was chased from a pub.

This is what you get when you bed non-fans from non-football countries. I remember all the back slapping and ya-hoo ride ‘em cowboy to the title blather on the message boards.

It’s looking more obvious by the day that this club ownership merry-go-round in the Premiership is doing nothing good for fans. A few transfer and a higher ticket price, some PR headlines when it starts, obituaries when it goes sour. That’s all.

Liverpool have gone to the rodeo and been ridden by a pair of cowboys -but pulling away the veneer, the cowboys are wearing suits, and there are no bulls, just bull****. You my friends are just the kind of donkeys that are perfect for riding their money bags into the sunset with.

"You'll never walk alone" is now officially "you'll never ride alone".

Monday, March 03, 2008

Nani emerging

Manchester United scored an impressive win against Fulham over the weekend with their biggest guns on the bench. This gave an opportunity for Nani to show some of his skills and he didn’t disappoint.

Now for me, Paul Scholes was the best player on the pitch Saturday, the diminutive red-head’s passing was stunning and his awareness on the pitch something to behold, but in terms of creativity and ‘up-and-coming-ness’ it was Nani’s show.

There were some glimpses early on in the season, but in recent weeks Nani is starting to look really impressive. At Sporting Lisbon, his previous club, Nani was the star of the team and was playing much better than you have ever seen him for United. It’s taken some time for him to adapt to the Premiership and his new team and we are starting to see dividends.

Nani’s movement was excellent against Fulham. His trickery was purposeful, sending the Fulham fullbacks into knots. His crossing was precise and his shots on goal forced saves. What else can you ask from a winger?

The only downside to all of this is a touch of petulance. Nani fakes injury which is very annoying to watch and brought out boos from the crowd every time he touched the ball after an incident with Paul Konchesky intended to draw a yellow card. Konchesky set him straight moments later when he deservedly dumped him out of bounds in a heap. From that one Nani bounced up and moments later tested the keeper yet again. He’s a determined chap, that much you can say for him.